A National Education Brainstorm Open to All Citizens

On 17 November the Dutch government launched a website, www.onderwijs2032.nl, with the purpose to start a national dialogue on the future of education in The Netherlands.

How do Dutch citizens want their education system to work in the near future? Now is their chance to engage in a public debate on the education system and its contents, instead of having to listen to the same old one-liners of politicians.

The Dutch government was inspired by similar projects in Finland, Norway and Scotland. The Dutch State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science, Sander Dekker, even went to Scotland to find out how the project was run over there and what the results were. One might call it a learning trip.

It looks like the Dutch political landscape is starting to change. Citizens are invited and given permission to contribute to the policymaking process outside of the normal election times. Politics is getting a welcome intellectual boost from the ground up, by its own citizens, supported by the national government. A constructive move forward for the democratic process in the 21st century.

The mentioned website works as a social hub, all messages which are placed by people on social media under #Onderwijs2032 will be collected and displayed at the website.

Everyone with ideas on education can share those via #Onderwijs2032 on social media. Since it is an open source platform via the internet, people everywhere in the world can participate. The brainstorm phase will finish at the end of January 2015. So, if you would like to share your inspirational input with the Dutch public and government make sure to do it in time. I am sharing my input for the website via my Twitter-account (see the picture below this blog).

The Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science in the second phase of this project, after January 2015, will make a first basic concept of the ideas shared via social media. This so called 'direction document' will be used to start a dialogue with schools, students, teachers, parents and others with a heart for education.

The goal is to have an education policy document in 2017 (phase 3). Mind you, the next planned national election in The Netherlands will be in March of 2017, in which parties can show what they will and will not do with the ideas proposed by their citizens.

What I like about this project is that all people are invited to share what is important to them. One is allowed to dream and shape their own ideal education system to be shared with rest of the country.

It is also an opportunity for every education expert to share their knowledge and experience openly in a public debate without content interference by policymakers.

Another benefit is that everything is shared on an open and public platform, so the stuff you put there could inspire others. Documents, videos, blogs, reports and other sources which would take me ages to collect, are now made accessible by the masses.

The downside is that if a lot of information is shared, one might miss the important material, because the volume of the data is to much to consume. Therefore an objective and transparent curation of the data by the national government is very important.

In the end the 'direction document' made by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science will determine the debate to be held in phase 2. As curator of the project the Ministry decides what is important for them to collect in this document. One might be skeptical of that. The selection of the material frames the debate to come. We, the Dutch citizens, will have to wait and see how that works out, and where and when necessary point out to our politicians where we disagree with the selected material for the 'direction document'.

It is my believe that the problem is not that there aren't great ideas, but the problem is how to build the environment in which they can flourish. How we can strengthen the intellectual, constructive and creative input into the democratic process. How to create a culture of engagement and creativity.

I am encouraged by #Onderwijs2032 under taken by the Dutch government and the initiative of the British RSA (#PowertoCreate, about which I have written in my previous Huffington Post blogs) as first small steps to enabling the collective intelligence we have in society by creating an open and interactive public online platform on public subjects.

Often we focus our attention, rightly so, on the corruptive influences of money and power on the political process. The solution might easier than one would have expected. Invest in the power of the people by investing in our collective, creative and critical intelligence.

Please Help Create The Collective Mind

A Mind Map is a powerful graphic technique which provides a universal key to unlock the potential of the brain. It harnesses the full range of cortical skills -- word, image, number, logic, rhythm, color and spatial awareness -- in a single, uniquely powerful manner. In so doing, it gives you the freedom to roam the infinite expanses of your brain. The Mind Map can be applied to every aspect of life where improved learning and clearer thinking will enhance human performance.

Above quote is from the website of Tony Buzan, the inventor of the mindmap. If you're not familiar with this amazing technique, go to his website. I suggested to Buzan via Twitter, that it should be possible to connect the different mindmaps of people on the same theme in order to create a holistic mindmap. To make our collective mind visible and to create something together. He kindly replied: "A brilliant #Thought! The #MindMap is the 'Magical Tool' for #TheCollectiveMind!"

As often with my brilliant thoughts, I soon find out, after further digital investigation, that there were several different people who had this brilliant thought before I did. I comfort myself with the idea, that it is the thought that counts and not its holy originality.

Now, I would like to test this wonderful idea in practice, but I need your help to realize this dream of mine. Please create your mindmap on the democratic process and share it on Twitter via #DemocraticProcessMindmap and/or #Mindmap

The first step to creating something together is that the different group members individually, freely and without judgement share their thoughts. Please do that! The next step, creating a collective mindmap is going to be an enjoyable challenge. But, let's cross that bridge when we get to it.

I hope you find the theme I have chosen for our collective play and collaborative thinking agreeable. To get things started I will share my own #DemocraticProcessMindmap below and on twitter. I will leave it up to you, if you wish to create your mindmap first and then look to my masterpiece or that you first look to the junk I have made and then create something much more beautiful.

Most importantly, see it as a game and have fun with it. Good luck! Enjoy! And share your brilliant thoughts with our global twitter friends please.

Why Bullshit Mountain Has To Be Taken Seriously

"We face a deficiency in our problem solving mechanism." and "I call this alternate reality Bullshit Mountain," says John Stewart in a debate (2012) with Bill O'Reilly. Stewart continues by saying: "On Bullshit Mountain our problems are amplified and our solutions simplified."

Fox News has mastered in telling us what we should think and has put its messages on repeat. Over and over again the same talking points. In court if a statement is not contested, it stands. For the court it is true, even if it isn't in normal life. A legal reality has been created.

This is why politicians repeat the same message over and over again, because it works. We all learn (and remember) by repetition. If we repeat something often enough it becomes a habit, we don't think about it anymore. We have developed an automatic way of dealing with a certain situation, person or topic. A routine.

Information that disrupts the routine of thinking one has acquired is often taken personally and strongly rejected without further inspection. It does not fit in ones framework or box. It is out of ones reality. So be aware of the routines you're having or are building up. Don't be afraid of investigating your own believes and thoughts. This does not mean that there's something wrong with repetition. It is an efficient way of remembering stuff and making something go automatically. It saves a lot of energy. This is great if you're aware of the routines of thinking you have and those routines are good for you. Then there's no problem. Christopher Hitchens made an important observation on (critical) thinking:

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks."

The main reason I love The Daily Show is because it is constantly addressing the way in which people are thinking. The Daily Show has mastered in clearly showing repeated patterns of behavior of people and organizations. The different (collective) mental frameworks. If you want to train critical thinking skills Jon Stewart is the best teacher you can wish for. Another exercise you can try is keeping two contradictory thoughts in your head at the same time, as explained by Bruce Springsteen. If you want to do some self-examination with regard to your personal framework of emotional triggers, the buttons which always set you off, I recommend the following exercise by Paul Ekman.

John Cleese states that our mind operates in two stances: an open and a closed modus. According to Cleese we get too often stuck in the Fox News Modus, I mean the closed modus. Cleese describes the closed modus as purposefully and active. A modus in which one is a slightly anxious and a little tensioned. According to Cleese this is how we are most of the time. A little bit like Fox News we are. By contrast, the open modus, is a relaxed, expansive, less purposeful modus in which we're probably more contemplative, more inclined to humor (which always accompanies a wider perspective) and, consequently, more playful. Cleese also mentions without a doubt that we need both modes, open and closed. To illustrate that a closed modus is also needed he remarks:

"If you decide to leap a ravine, the moment just before take-off is a bad time to start reviewing alternative strategies. When you're attacking a machine-gun post you should not make a particular effort to see the funny side of what you are doing."

As I already mentioned we get stuck in this closed modus much too often. The main complaint about politicians Cleese says (and I joyfully add Fox News) is, that they become so addicted to the adrenaline that they get from reacting to events on an hour-by-hour basis, that they almost completely lose the desire or the ability to ponder problems in the open modus. Like Hitchens, Cleese is addressing how we think and not what we think. Cleese is very clear on how creativity is killed most effectively:

"Now the people I find it hardest to be creative with are people who need all the time to project an image of themselves as decisive. And who feel that to create this image they need to decide everything very quickly and with a great show of confidence. Well, this behavior I suggest sincerely, is the most effective way of strangling creativity at birth."

If you want to learn how to get in a state of mind in which creativity can flourish, then watch this lecture on the creative process of Cleese and/or read the transcript out of which I have been ruthlessly copying text into this blog.

"We face a deficiency in our problem solving mechanism," says our Master Teacher Critical Thinking Jon Stewart. We're operating in the closed modus as a society most of the time. We need to open our collective mind. As the Dalai Lama has presumably said: "Your mind is like a parachute. It only works when it is open." I am still trying to find out from whom this quote is originally; the Dalai Lama himself, Frank Zappa, Anthony J. D'Angelo or someone else. Help me out on this one!

As we have to look to our own routines, we have to look to the routines in a society as well. And deal with those routines which are hindering progress. This is hard because we're used to them and attached to these routines, whether the routines are wright or wrong. Deepak Chopra has said: "Instead of thinking outside the box, get rid of the box." But you cannot get rid of a box if you are not aware of its presence. This is why Picasso has stated: "Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist."

I believe that the solution for a better world ('the why') is more in organizing the process/environment ('the how') than the desired result ('the what'). This means that academics, artists, business people, politicians and others have to create a new organic cooperation in order for society to flourish as a whole. And keep repeating it or even better regenerate like a beautiful garden. A healthy evolving routinely process. 

Nothing washes bullshit away as much as clear water!

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